Abstract: "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" by N. V. Gogol

A whole era of literary work has passed, and a galaxy of outstanding authors has left its distinctive mark in literature, but Gogol is still the real magician of the word for many. Therefore, it is recommended to read the author's original of his creations, and not just a brief summary. "May Night, or Drowned Woman" and to this day surprises readers with impressive architecture, a unique textual space structure and a rich palette of words. It contains absolutely all the iconic attributes of Gogol's works: mysticism, fear, laughter. The writer skillfully scares the reader, telling horror stories, generously mixing them with satire and humor.

Hypnosis of Gogol's syllable

The story "The May Night, or the Drowned Woman" is built precisely in the eloquent syllable, it is not just processed folklore, it is an authorial fiction enchanting with semantic nuances. Starting to read, literally from the first lines of this story you come under the hypnosis of Gogol's syllable, the ability to build story narration in close interweaving with folklore motifs, and remain impressed for a long time after turning the last page. Never give the magic of the word of genius a brief summary, "May Night, or Drowned Woman" captivates only in the original reading.

Anthology and film adaptation

This work was first published in 1831, after it was included in the series "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka". Also, the mystical story is included in the anthology: "Russian mystical prose" (Russian 19-century Gothic Tales), in the library of Russian fiction "The Kiev witches. Volume 4-th ». It is interesting, how would this fact be commented on by Gogol? "May Night, or Drowned Woman" was twice filmed. For the first time in the Russian Empire (in 1910), director V. Krivtsov released a film based on the story "Night in May", and the second screen version belongs to the famous storyteller A. Rowe, he made the film using a short summary. "May Night, or Drowned Woman" was released in 1953.

Folklore records as a basis

For true admirers of the writer's talent is the fact that when writing the story the author used folkloric records that he received from his relatives and mother. This is evidenced by his letter to his mother dated 30.04.1829, in which he urges him to tell him "a few words ... about mermaids." But not only these mythical creatures will become characters in the story, there will be other heroes in it. "May Night, or Drowned Woman" begins with a scene of a gentle meeting between Ganna and Levko. In subsequent chapters, popular beliefs, traditions about drowned women, witches, etc. are widely used. The "May Night, or the Drowned Woman" (the description of the plot will be presented below) does not retell any of the well-known stories of folklore, the narrative brings to the reader a poetic picture from a colorful life Little Russia. Gogol as the creator of this work - completely independent.

Abstract, summary

"May Night, or the Drowned Woman" at the heart of the plot contains the motives of many legends about the unconquered, innocently lost souls. A gentle, beautiful pannochka humbly tolerates all the mockery of the witch-stepmother. But one day, unable to endure the torment, the girl rushes into the water, drowns and at the same time becomes a mermaid. But the stepmother is not going to be content with her death, she is insidious and vindictive. The witch also turns into a mermaid, and now the miserable pannochka can not swim freely. For help, she turns to her son's head - Levko, who does not have personal happiness at all. He sincerely loves the beautiful Galya, but the girl, as it turned out, was laid eyes on by his father. His head wants to frolic with her, so she does not want to think about her son's wedding. The Little Mermaid comes to Levko in a dream and selflessly begs the saber to find her wicked stepmother among the underwater maidens. The ingenious hero watched the game for a while, the mermaids played the kite. Levko drew attention to one of the girls, who stood out with her anger and predation: she was so furiously thrown at her friends that gave the impression that it was not a game for her at all. The witch was discovered, and the grateful and happy mermaid pane helped the unfortunate lover to unite with his beloved Galya, having suppressed the state letter of his father.

And what happened then?

"Later" (period after publication) for any literary work is twofold. This is either the process of replicating, transposing for theatrical stage, cinematography, animation; It is also widely practiced to borrow a plot by a number of imitators; Numerous author's illustrations, painting on a theme, children's toys based on motives, etc. Or, what happens most often is oblivion. But this sad fate has not overtaken the original work, not such Gogol. "May Night, or Drowned Woman" - one of the most exciting works of the writer.

The singer of Ukrainian folklore

Surprisingly, according to the postulates of Russian literary criticism, Gogol refers to realists. However, his works can be called anything: fantasy, farce, comedy, folklore, "horror", mysticism - just not copying and description of reality. Sometimes the author intentionally brings to his creations the growing horror to the logical end - the mystical and terrible death of the protagonist (pannochki in this case). However, the death of the creator is a relative concept, the dead in his narratives lead a fairly active life after life, periodically interfering in the lives of the living. This feature is very characteristic of any folklore. This is another proof of the fact that Gogol deliberately actively "promoted" the original Ukrainian folklore, and the well-known description of the Ukrainian night is the "May Night".